A spokesman for India Inc.
Take this pop quiz: Which Indian company grew 1,852 per cent, the fastest among large Indian companies, in the ’80s? No; the answer is not Reliance Textiles (as it was then called). The correct answer is Bajaj Auto, which couldn’t make its Chetak scooters fast enough. And it was Rahul Bajaj who guided the two- and threewheeler maker during this period. He is still the company’s Chairman, but now follows a more hands-off approach, having passed on the day-to-day management to his sons Rajiv and Sanjiv.
But that doesn’t mean Bajaj is ready to ride into retirement anytime soon. His formidable management and negotiating skills are being put to test in a new terrain: the dispute over dividing the family jewels with his brother Shishir. This on again, off again saga has been going on for seven years; the latest twist: the outline of a family settlement, thrashed out between Shishir on one side and Rahul and his cousins Shekhar, Madhur and Niraj on the other, has been formally scrapped by both sides and probably signals the start of a long-drawn battle of attrition between the two sides.
But being embroiled in scraps and controversies is nothing new to the battle-hardened Bajaj. Long regarded as an outspoken champion of India Inc. in general and the free market in particular, Bajaj sparked off a controversy when the so-called Bombay Club—a group of leading Indian businessmen of which he was a leading light—called upon the government to protect Indian businesses from the post-liberalisation onslaught of MNCs.
But that was a rare blemish in a career glittering with achievements. Bajaj, an MBA from Harvard University, has been heading the Bajaj Group since 1965 and was instrumental in turning the then relatively small Bajaj Auto into one of India Inc.’s bluest chips.
The company faltered in the early ’90s when it failed to read the market’s preference for motorcycles over its bread and butter scooters, but it has since managed to recover lost ground. The hands-on manager of a decade ago has now given way to the hands-off, big picture patriarch. But how does the old soldier keep himself occupied—when he’s not sorting out family feuds or lobbying for India Inc. these days? As a people’s representative— he was elected to the Rajya Sabha from Maharashtra in June 2006.
